Page 3 of Release You

“Thank you,” I said.

He shrugged, waving me through, chest out as if he’d done some heroic deed.

“Jesus, Russ,” Henry called out. If his eyes could shoot daggers, they would’ve.

I winked at him as I drove away past the barricades. He stomped after me, but it was too late. I’d won this round. I leaned back on the seat and laughed with a satisfaction I hadn’t felt in years.

Half a mile down, I hung a left on Main Street, and my stomach sank. Every building on the entire block was closed down, windows boarded—just as Henry had said. Bending over the steering wheel, I glanced up. Two streets up the road, a second construction crew had the access barricaded. What the hell had happened here? The place looked like the set of a zombie apocalypse movie. A burning smell lingered in the air, but there was no evidence of fire. Not that I could see anyway.

I let the car roll to a stop in front of the Cavalier Hotel. My car tires crunched over gravel and broken glass. This was a nightmare. It had to be. I squeezed my eyes shut…one, two, three…Maybe I’d wake up in a fancy hotel in Paris, wrapped in soft, cool sheets. I opened them. No such luck. I was still here in freaking Paradise Creek, which had once again managed not to meet my incredibly low expectations of it.

“It’ll be like when we were kids. Like a vacation,” my sister, Lisa, had said.

A vacation, my ass. I swallowed my tears and took in a deep breath. I owed her this small sacrifice. Lisa had always been there for me. It was my turn to take care of her. She’d waited long enough.

I climbed out of the car. My pulse spiked as I strode toward the place that held so many memories. The sunrays bounced off the double-glass doors of the hotel and prickled my bare shoulders. This was the worst idea. I pushed on the wood panel, using my shoulder and body weight. Shards of glass scuffed across the marble floors as the door creaked open just enough to let me through. I placed a hand over my mouth, taking in the scene in front of me.

Lisa, what have you done?I wasted half of my life savings for this hole in the wall?

This wasn’t the fancy boutique hotel I remembered, with red velvet sofas in the lobby and a grand staircase going up to the second level. Lisa and I had snuck into this place countless times to spy on the grown-ups while they danced the night away at yet another Cavalier lavish shindig. My favorite party was the Cavalier’s annual New Year’s Eve bash. Lisa and I would spend hours hidden in the coat closet, watching through a crack in the door as guests danced in their expensive clothes and toasted with champagne at midnight. How quickly everything had ended when our parents died. It all seemed like a lifetime ago. I wiped my face with the back of my hand. My chest hurt with the usual ghost pain of an old wound. Seeing all this brought back memories I’d hoped never to face again.

I ran my hand across the exposed red brick. Though everything was still here—the furniture, the art, area rugs—half of it was covered in spider webs. The other half lay under a pile of rubble. I walked past the stairs and sat at an old barstool nearthe leather-upholstered bar. I wiped a finger across the counter and frowned. It was clean or at least not layered in inches of dust like everything else.

Overhead, a sparkly chandelier hung off-center. Someone had cleaned it recently. Someone had also brought down the wall separating the bar from the main lobby. Though, I couldn’t tell whether that’d happened before or after the building was abandoned.

I climbed the stairs. With every step, shuffling noises scattered along the walls. Great. We had rats. I went into the first room on the left and let out a sigh. It had a bed, desk, chest of drawers, and even curtains. Not horrible. A good cleaning and fresh windowpanes could make the room livable. I moved on to survey the other twenty rooms. Overall, the upstairs was in fair condition, even if most of the scattered furniture was covered in droppings. How long had the hotel been like this? I’d only been gone for ten years. I shook my head, rubbing my temple. Did Lisa know? No, how could she?

Every muscle in my body quivered. “Home sweet home.” My voice echoed on the opposite end of the building and sent tiny feet scurrying across the floor again. So much for a hot bath and a warm bed.

“Fuck my life.” I stomped back to the bar, picked up the counter stool, and slung it against the mirror covering most of the moldy wallpaper. We should be in Paris. As a family, together. Just as we’d always planned.

Holy shit, Lisa. What did you get me into?

CHAPTER 2

Two Deeds, Two Owners

Henry

“Jesus, Russ.” I clenched my jaw as the incredibly hot blonde winked at me.

I’d met women like that before; women who thought they owned the world, who thought they could get men to bend to their will. If Russ had just a smidgen of self-control, he would’ve seen through her goddamn charade of damsel in distress.

“Sorry.” Russ kneaded the nape of his neck as if waking up from some sort of spell. “I didn’t think there’d be any harm in her going through. She’s just going to her hotel.”

“Russ. What fucking hotel? The only hotel on Main Street is condemned. We just blew up the entire block, remember? We spent all week evacuating people because it isn’t safe.” I rubbed the stubble on my cheek.

“The survey is as good as done. The foundation held up.”

We’d taken weeks to plan this operation. The thing about dealing with explosives was that we couldn’t know what part of the road wasn’t up to spec or recorded accurately.

“Until every inch is inspected, the survey is not done.” I threw my hat in the back of my truck and took off.

“Where you going?” Russ asked.

“Just going up the road for a few minutes. I’d like to know why the fuck there’s a woman in town thinkingmyhotel is hers.” I stomped away from the construction site with city hall in my line of sight.

“Oh. I thought that was odd she said that.”

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